KQED Science Video Podcast

Most of us think ants are just pests. But not Brian Fisher. Known as "The Ant Guy," he's on a mission to show the world just how important and amazing these little creatures are and in the process, catalog all of the world's 30,000 ant species before they become casualties of habitat loss. But he can't do it without our help.

Think there's nothing to new to see outside? Take a closer look. Photographer Ron Wolf leads us on a hunt for fungi and slime molds, with their surprisingly ornate and elegant patterns, at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve in Los Altos.

The Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries cover more than 9,500 square miles of ocean habitat. While most fishing and shipping are still allowed within sanctuary waters, some activities are now regulated or prohibited. Patrolling such an immense area by boat would take days... but now sanctuary managers are taking to the air in a rugged de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter bush plane to get a bird's eye view.

They are otherworldly creatures who glow in the dark, without brains or bones, some reaching 100 feet long. And they live just off California's coast. Join two top marine biologists who have devoted their careers to unlocking the mysteries of jellyfish and alien-like siphonophores.

In our second episode of Science on the SPOT, join us on a behind-the-scenes trip deep into the massive collection of marine mammal skulls at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. You'd be surprised how much you can learn about an animal's life– and death– by reading their bones.

In this QUEST web extra, Stanford University astrophysicist Todd Hoeksema explains how solar sound waves are a vital ingredient to the science of helioseismology, whereby the interior properties of the sun are probed by analyzing and tracking the surface sound waves that bounce into and out of the Sun.

Scientists at Stanford University and Lockheed Martin are playing pivotal roles in a nearly billion-dollar NASA mission to explore the sun. A spacecraft launched in early 2010 is obtaining IMAX-like images of the sun every second of the day, generating more data than any NASA mission in history. The data will allow researchers to learn about solar storms and other phenomena that can cause blackouts and harm astronauts.

Test your knowledge about this mysterious, awesome and most vital of stars.

Hepatitis C is a virus that causes cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. It’s the leading cause for liver transplants in the U.S., and an estimated 4 million Americans have the disease. Current treatments are difficult to tolerate and are often ineffective, but recent breakthroughs from Bay Area scientists may soon produce a cure for the disease that claims more than 10,000 American lives each year.

For thousands of years and countless generations, migratory birds have flown the same long-distance paths between their breeding and feeding grounds. Understanding the routes these birds take, called "flyways," helps conservation efforts and gives scientists better knowledge of global changes, both natural and man-made. QUEST heads out to the Pacific Flyway with California biologists to track the rhythm of migration.